I am on vacation with my family until August 21. My internet connection in the coming week will range from intermittent to non-existent. That is now by choice. In the past it was not, but now with ubiquitous wi-fi, portable ipads and kindles, that is no longer the case, and truth to tell, it hasn’t been for the last several years. I will have posts for each day I am away on the blog, but if something momentous occurs, for example: Elvis is discovered working at a Big Boy’s in Tulsa, the Pope issues a Bull against blogging as a complete waste of time, Trump admits that some orange furred critter has died on his head or Robert Mueller admitting that he is a Russian spy, I trust that this post will explain why I am not discussing it.

We will begin at the library school that my daughter is attending, the baby of the family having decided to follow my bride’s footsteps. She was too bright to follow in mine!

Then on to Kenosha, Wisconsin with a visit to my bride’s mother. We have been doing this since the birth of the twins and it has always been a fun family gathering. I heartily recommend both the Kenosha Civil War Museum and the Milwaukee Zoo Then it is back home for some Illinois activities including next Wednesday hosting the local Rotary District Governor, since, for my sins no doubt, I am serving as President of the local Rotary Club in Dwight for the eighth occasion.

2 Responses to Vacation 2017

“If any of you are close to Indianapolis and you have never attended, it is worth a drive to see tens of thousands of role players, board gamers and computer gamers in Congress assembled. If nothing else you will go home reassured as to how comparatively normal you are. Last year’s attendance was in excess of 60,819 and there are multitudes of gaming related events.”

Just so everyone is aware, I wouldn’t go this year if you are trying to actually get into the convention. The convention has been sold out for weeks. I think this is the first time they have sold out GenCon.

Last Friday my family and I made our annual pilgrimage to Springfield to attend the Lincoln Museum and go to the Lincoln Tomb. As we made our way though the Museum we encountered, for the second year in a row, a large number of Amish touring the Museum, the women wearing long dresses and poke bonnets that made them look as if they stepped from the 1860s. The Amish were obviously fascinated by what they were seeing and talked among themselves in “Pennsylvania Dutch”. Illinois has had a large colony of Amish in the Arthur, Illinois area, about 72 miles from Springfield, since the 19th century. (Although the Amish are as theologically as far from the Church as it is possible for Christians to be, I should note that I have a huge amount of respect for them. They take care of their own, and ask nothing from the larger society in which they live, except to be left alone, a sentiment which resonates with me.)

After the museum, as usual we had a first rate lunch at the nearby The Feed Store. (Nothing shouts Midwest more than eating in a restaurant with a name like that.) (I highly recommend their barley soup, their tuna fish salad sandwich, and any of their many variants of cheesecake.)

We finished our day at Lincoln’s tomb praying for the repose of his soul and the souls of his wife and kids.) Once again I thought to myself how nice it was that the first or second greatest President in our history, has his tomb in a cemetery open to all, where there are no guards, no charges for admission, not even for parking. You simply pull up to the small parking area next to the tomb, go in and make your way through the tomb. We owe Mary Todd Lincoln for that. After Lincoln’s murder, there was an attempt to have Lincoln buried in Washington with a grand mausoleum being erected thereafter over his remains. Mary Lincoln would have none of it. She took her dead husband, and had the remains of her dead son Willie exhumed, and traveled with them both back to Springfield for burial. She wanted nothing more from Washington except to get out of there as quickly as she could, a city where she had suffered grief that makes her such a poignant figure in American history. (An exhibit in the Museum shows her framed by a rain stained window, sitting forlornly, mourning the loss of Willie. My bride and I, sadly, having lost a son know precisely how she feels.) We made sure to rub the nose of the nose of the huge bust of Lincoln outside of the tomb. Most noses of Lincoln on metal statues and busts in Illinois are shiny due to the Illinois superstition that rubbing the nose of a bust or a statue of Lincoln brings good luck. With my son taking the Illinois bar at the end of July, it can’t hurt.

It wouldn’t be a McClarey expedition if we didn’t buy books. We bought books yesterday at the Museum and the Prairie Archives bookstore in Springfield which boasts a collection of a quarter of a million books. Most of the books were about Lincoln or the Civil War (surprise!) and here are those books:

Lincoln the President: The Last Full Measure, J. G. Ballard and Richard N. Current (1955). This is the fourth and final volume in Ballard’s study of Lincoln. At the time of his death in 1953 he had written only eight chapters. In his will he suggested either historian Allan Nevins or Richard N. Current to finish his work if he could not. Current took up the challenge, even though he had never written about Lincoln before, and completed the volume in 1955. He later became one of the great Lincoln scholars of his day, writing numerous books on Lincoln and dying in 2012 at age 100. Now I have the complete set. I think I will read it backwards like witches are said to say their prayers.

Vacations are always fun, although the older I get the more I find that I need a rest and recuperation period to recover from the vacation! (The work that no doubt has piled up on my desk in my absence makes such periods of after vacation rest brief indeed.) My son has started in at SIU law school and he has received the usual law school admonition that they will teach him to think like a lawyer. (What a terrible threat!) He seems to be off to a good start. GenCon was fun as always. The high point for me was when the family and I attended the 12:10 PM Assumption holy day mass at Saint John the Evangelist across from the convention center in Indianapolis. The mass began with the packed congregation belting out Hail Holy Queen, always one of my favorite hymns, and the congregation was so loud that I was able to sing at the top of my lungs, something I enjoy doing but that I rarely do since if I could be heard I fear it would quality as at least a misdemeanor if not a felony! I was then delighted to learn that the three priests concentrating the mass were all gamer priests from around the country there to attend GenCon and who were substituting for the pastor who was on vacation.

I am on vacation beginning today with my family until August 18. My internet connection in the coming week will range from intermittent to non-existent. I will have posts for each day I am away on the blog, but if something momentous occurs, for example: Elvis is discovered working at a Big Boy’s in Tulsa, the Pope issues a Bull against blogging as a complete waste of time, or Obama reveals that Area 51 does contain aliens and Joe Biden has accidentally started an intergalactic war with them, I trust that this post will explain why I am not discussing it.

We will begin up in Kenosha, Wisconsin with a visit to my bride’s mother. We have been doing this since the birth of the twins and it has always been a fun family gathering.

We will then be moving my son into his apartment in Carbondale. For those of you who have never traveled through Little Egypt, Southern Illinois, it is a remarkably beautiful part of the country. My son is beginning law school next week at Southern Illinois University. When I attended law school more than a third of a century ago, I received no scholarships. However, fortunately, my son inherited his brains from my bride and has received a full tuition scholarship. I found the first year of law school to be a challenging experience, but if I could get by my son should have few difficulties.

I am on vacation this week with my family. My internet connection in the coming week will range from intermittent to non-existent. I will have posts for each day I am away on the blog, but if something momentous occurs, for example: Elvis is discovered working at a Big Boy’s in Tulsa, the Pope issues a Bull against blogging as a complete waste of time, or Obama reveals that Area 51 does contain aliens and Joe Biden has accidentally started an intergalactic war with them, I trust that this post will explain why I am not discussing it.

Among other activities we will be attending the Gen Con Convention in Indianapolis, a pilgrimage the McClarey clan makes each year to renew our uber-Geek creds. If any of you are close to Indianapolis and you have never attended, it is worth a drive to see tens of thousands of role players, board gamers and computer gamers in Congress assembled. If nothing else you will go home reassured as to how comparatively normal you are. Last year’s attendance was in excess of 41,000 and there are multitudes of gaming related events. A good symbol of the holy grail of nerdiness that is Gen Con is here. Below is a Gen Con video which gives a nice feel for the magnitude of the convention.

My wife and daughter participate in the live action dungeon at Gen Con. I do not participate due to my great personal dignity, and because I doubtless would cry in anguish as my character was slain two seconds into the dungeon! I normally hang around at the game auction along with most of the grognard veteran gamers, i.e. geezer gamers. The type of wackiness that goes on at Gen Con is best symbolized in this video which has nothing to do with Gen Con but which certainly has the Gen Con spirit. (Hattip to Pauli at Est Quod Est.)

I am on vacation this week with my family. My internet connection in the coming week will range from intermittent to non-existent. I will have posts for each day I am away on the blog, but if something momentous occurs, for example: Elvis is discovered working at a Big Boy’s in Tulsa, the Pope issues a Bull against blogging as a complete waste of time, or there is an alarming outbreak of common sense in the government, I trust that this post will explain why I am not discussing it.

Among other activities we will be attending the Gen Con Convention in Indianapolis, a pilgrimage the McClarey clan makes each year to renew our uber-Geek creds. If any of you are close to Indianapolis and you have never attended, it is worth a drive to see tens of thousands of role players, board gamers and computer gamers in Congress assembled. If nothing else you will go home reassured as to how comparatively normal you are. Last year’s attendance was in excess of 30,000 and there are multitudes of gaming related events. A good overview of Gen Con is here. Below is a Gen Con video from 2010 which gives a nice feel of the convention.

My wife and daughter participate in the live action dungeon at Gen Con. Here is a trailer for True Dungeon 2011: